Wednesday means I know what to post

[starlady]

What I'm reading
I picked up Chrestomanci volume 1 again last night - I read Charmed Life in December, and the second book in this volume is The Many Lives of Christopher Chant. Holy god the early 2000s covers are hideous I suspect I am coming too late to DWJ to love her wholeheartedly the way other people do (damn her books being OOP in the 90s!), but I'm enjoying these so far. There is a very strong whiff of The Magician's Nephew about the whole thing, and given that TMN is one of my favorite Narnia books, I approve.

What I've just read
I finished Alaya Dawn Johnson's Racing the Dark on Monday evening and then promptly dreamed about zombies on an island a la Kingdom Hearts, very obviously influenced by the book. Longer post to follow, but very highly recommended, even with the series being unfinished. I also just read Zen Cho's The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo, which was practically perfect in every way.

What I'll read next
It's high time for A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan (yes, I have an ARC). Then I need to start seriously on all the YA books I have piled up, because those, as much as I love them, take less brain wattage than adult novels, and the semester is starting up again.

Comments

[snickfic]

Why hello, fellow latecomer to DWJ! I never read her as a kid either (which makes me sad, because I would have loved her). Honestly, I found Charmed Life and The Many Lives of Christopher Chant moderately interesting, but then I really loved The Magicians of Caprona and Witch Week, which I believe are the two that come next. So give her time. I think she was maybe still feeling her way around in the books that you're reading now.

[starlady]

I did read the Dalemark quartet as a kid, actually, which was probably a mistake in the long run, though I did really like The Spellcoats and I really like some elements of The Crown of Dalemark.

I also read Howl's after I saw the movie and didn't like it, but I have to be careful where I admit that or DWJ fans will come for me in the night.

[snickfic]

Ha ha, I read Howl's, too, and don't recall caring much for it. I seem to recall there being a love triangle, which I loathe. Possibly I just hadn't learned how to read her yet, though; I'd be interested in trying the Howl books again sometime.

[starlady]

I think I somehow got a free copy of the sequel, and will read it eventually, but compared with the movie, I thought the book was really trope-tastic and predictable. Dude from our world finds that poetry makes magic in another world! Where HAVEN'T I seen that before?

[thistleingrey]

I haven't seen the film yet! Maybe sometime. I didn't like the book much, regardless.

+1 no DWJ as a kid. I bounced off A Sudden Wild Magic in high school, then fell unreasonably in love with Hexwood. Dunno.

[coffeeandink]

I reread all of DWJ last year, or maybe the year before?, and was surprised to find A Sudden Wild Magic wasn't quite as terrible as I remembered it. It's still pretty bad, though.

Hexwood is probably the latest written of her novels that's on my Greatest Hits of Diana Wynne Jones list.

[thistleingrey]

Hmm, good to know--I'd wondered how SWM would read for an adult, but I hadn't wondered quite enough to hunt down a copy yet.

[coffeeandink]

Honestly, I found Charmed Life and The Many Lives of Christopher Chant moderately interesting, but then I really loved The Magicians of Caprona and Witch Week, which I believe are the two that come next.

The internal chronology doesn't match the publication chronology -- The Lives of Christopher Chant was written after The Magicians of Caprona and Witch Week. I don't like TLOCC as much as the other three, but it seems to be a really individual thing.

[snickfic]

Ah. Then I'm not sure what exactly I was pinging on. I definitely liked the latter two (by internal chronology) better.

[lnhammer]

I also didn't find DWJ until an adult, but I had no trouble falling in love with them. FWIW, I also prefer Magicians of Caprona and Witch Week over the two packaged in the volume 1 omnibus. I think, actually, they were written in between those two -- the volumes are bound by internal chronology rather than order written.

ETA: I forgot to mention that I prefer the Dalemark books over Chrstomanci, and I think you would too. Also recommended is The Homeward Bounders, which first introduced me to just how sneaky a storyteller she is, and how tightly she plots, and The Archer's Goon. And if you want major mindscrew, Hexwood, but that one's not considered a good starter volume with good reason.

---L.

[coffeeandink]

I am a ferocious so totally reasonably devoted unreasonable childhood DWJ fan, so I will probably make this my last comment to avoid jumping all over your comments some more. (::studiously avoiding blatant Howl provocation except to say: I do not think you will like its sequel::)

I think that the DWJ you would probably like best are: The Homeward Bounders, Fire and Hemlock, Archer's Goon, or Hexwood. I would say The Spellcoats but you mentioned you'd already read that.

My favorite of the Chrestomanci books is The Magicians of Caprona, but my second favorite is Charmed Life, so I don't know if that's a good guide for you.

[starlady]

What do you like about Charmed Life, may I ask? I feel like there's some angle I'm missing.

[oyceter]

I also vote to avoid the sequel. I "reread" via audiobook last year and was pained by Orientalism =( =(.